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“Perfect“ films

methinks there is a distinct confusion between 'perfect' and 'films I like an awful lot' in here. There are loads of films that I love, but ones without a shot, or a minor character, or one line out of place? Not many.

Even Casablanca has one line that almost makes me cringe (although it is well outweighed by all the other brilliant lines).
 
Reno said:
You really think Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection are perfect films ? :eek:
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Find it difficult to muster much enthusiasm for either film, despite both directors output.

Alien3 was such a disappointment when it came out. It seems to have a following in recent years, but at not convinced.
 
Well OK, if perfection is really (are you nuts??) the thing you are after then The Colour of Pomegranates has an every-scene-is-exquisite quality to it. It will probably bore the pants off you, but any one moment is sort of knock out. Honourable mentions for Man with a Movie Camera and The Passion of Joan of Arc.

Edit: Here we go it's on YouTube. Knock yourselves out with some perfection. Get it out your system and then go watch a film that you actually like. (To be fair I find it mesmerising.)

 
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belboid said:
methinks there is a distinct confusion between 'perfect' and 'films I like an awful lot' in here. There are loads of films that I love, but ones without a shot, or a minor character, or one line out of place? Not many.

Even Casablanca has one line that almost makes me cringe (although it is well outweighed by all the other brilliant lines).
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Definitely correct on every film having a flaw, but then Persian carpets have at least one deliberate flaw’ as onIy god can create perfection. I think most people posting are capable of making the distinction between their favourites and films they think are (near) perfect.

Princess Bride for example, one of my all time favourites- and lots of other people’s- but no one would claim it was anywhere near perfect.
 
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Never managed to make it all the way through Highlander as I’ve never been a fan of that 80s style of MTV filmmaking. May be one of these generational things....
 
IC3D said:
I broadly agree with Reno apart from tarring Star Wars with block busters that followed it has some awesome Samouri Westerns influences.
Great films are flawed character based movies like Taxi Driver and Cheech and Chong Up in Smoke. I've loved both equally and at different stages in my life.
It's like comparing music it's a matter of taste primarily though good art can be appreciated if not loved
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Aye, I get where Reno is coming from, but the original Star Wars is a proper movie with plot, characters etc. They may not be great plot or characters, but they're still there - whereas with the latest entrants in the franchise, it's much more about "film as spectacle". I think it was Scorsese (or was it Godard?) who said that the movies were going back to what they were in the time of Melies, a spectacle, and not a narrative.
 
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Artaxerxes said:
I probably need to watch this again but it blew me away when I saw it in release. It was just gorgeous.

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It's a long time ago but I liked this a lot. See also Brothers Bloom and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang all of which stick in my head as doing something special. I'd have to watch them all again to have any confidence they're (near) 'perfect' though.

This a great thread, by the way. I watched The Killing for the first time off the back of this.
 
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Idris2002 said:
Aye, I get where Reno is coming from, but the original Star Wars is a proper movie with plot, characters etc. They may not be great plot or characters, but they're still there - whereas with the latest entrants in the franchise, it's much more about "film as spectacle". I think it was Scorsese (or was it Godard?) who said that the movies were going back to what they were in the time of Melies, a spectacle, and not a narrative.
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Sums it it nicely
 
A380 said:
Definitely correct on every film having a flaw, but then Persian carpets have at least one deliberate flaw’ as onIy god can create perfection. I think most people posting are capable of making the distinction between their favourites and films they think are (near) perfect.

Princess Bride for example, one of my all time favourites- and lots of other people’s- but no one would claim it was anywhere near perfect.
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In which case no one should mention it on a thread about ‘perfect’ films. There are already 209 variants of the ‘what’s your favourite film?’ threads, so why not stick to what is asked for in the title?
 
belboid said:
In which case no one should mention it on a thread about ‘perfect’ films. There are already 209 variants of the ‘what’s your favourite film?’ threads, so why not stick to what is asked for in the title?
Click to expand...

It’s an illustration of my argument to provide context by way of example.
 
Idris2002 said:
Aye, I get where Reno is coming from, but the original Star Wars is a proper movie with plot, characters etc. They may not be great plot or characters, but they're still there - whereas with the latest entrants in the franchise, it's much more about "film as spectacle". I think it was Scorsese (or was it Godard?) who said that the movies were going back to what they were in the time of Melies, a spectacle, and not a narrative.
Click to expand...
Maybe I watch the wrong kind of modern films, but from what I can tell, the American tradition of storytelling is still alive in Hollywood films. Perhaps not in these blockbuster franchises, but very definitely in other kinds of films. William Goldman-style storytelling is still around, no, with a defined character arc, redemption, and all the rest of it? Hollywood is generally much less about spectacle, mood, and atmosphere than many other filmmaking traditions. 'Action' movies perhaps stand a bit apart from that?
 
A380 said:
It’s an illustration of my argument to provide context by way of example.
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But I don’t think it’s a very good one.

we all love the movies we love. That tends to mean we wouldn’t change anything about them, not even the abysmal dialogue in Star Wars. I prefer umpteen movies to the ones I’ve listed as perfect (great though they are), but perfect is perfect or it is nothing.
 
littlebabyjesus said:
Maybe I watch the wrong kind of modern films, but from what I can tell, the American tradition of storytelling is still alive in Hollywood films. Perhaps not in these blockbuster franchises, but very definitely in other kinds of films. William Goldman-style storytelling is still around, no, with a defined character arc, redemption, and all the rest of it? Hollywood is generally much less about spectacle, mood, and atmosphere than many other filmmaking traditions. 'Action' movies perhaps stand a bit apart from that?
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There still are American films which are dramas (as in the William Goldman tradition) or more artistically minded films (Wes Anderson, PT Anderson) Almost none of them are Hollywood films. Most of them are independent films, many of them paradoxically financed by European funding bodies which technically makes them European films. Lately streaming services have also started to make these type of films, that means that really they are TV movies.
 
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